


Of Faunus And Soldiers

by ThatYellowFinch



Category: RWBY, Study Series - Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Gen, Major Original Character(s), Name Changes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-05 05:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5362853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatYellowFinch/pseuds/ThatYellowFinch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teams ARYL and JAAM embark on their adventures at Beacon. Unfortunately for them the story begins, as most things do, with blood.</p><p>RWBY!Verse AU with Yelena, Valek (Rez), Lief, Ambrose, Janco (Jin), Ari (Aubrey), Maren (Maia), and Onora (Aunora).<br/>Some of the names are changed to keep with the Verse's color rule but they're all essentially the same characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The man in front of her straightened his papers before reaching to pour her a glass of water. “Sorry if you’ve been here long.”

“A couple hours.” The girl with the curly brown hair and dark green eyes shrugged. She supposed they did that to tire her out. If she was tired she’d be less likely to lie.

“Can you state your name for the record?”

“Yelena Silva.”

“And what was your relationship with Rez Roth?” He asked.

“He was my team mate.”

“Just your team mate?”

Yelena groaned. “It was one date. He disappeared soon after.”

“How would you describe Rez’s personality?”

Yelena shrugged again. “He’s a kid, just like the rest of us.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“He was a background person. He didn’t like people noticing him. But he was undyingly loyal. He didn’t do what you think he did.” She shook her head.

“We haven’t accused him of anything, yet.”

“You all but have. But Rez isn’t like that. Ambrose was his best friend.”

“His best friend who was very adamant against the White Fang. Rez has a history with hate crimes committed against him and his family. Good enough motive to go and join the White Fang.”

“He wouldn’t do that! It was Ambrose’s dream to reform human and faunus relations. Rez believed in that dream more than anyone.” She protested.

“You’re getting very defensive.”

“Of course I am!”

“Perhaps it will be best to start from the beginning. When did you first meet Rez Roth?”

Yelena sighed, slumping back into her chair. “It was our first year at Beacon, during our initiation. We were all dropped into the forest and told that the first person who meets our eye will be our partner for the next four years. Our objective in the forest was not only to find a partner but also to bring a relic back from the forest temple. I was the first to reach the temple, I made the entire way without a partner. The second was my brother Lief. After bemoaning that we were now partners, we grabbed our relic and were about to head away from the temple and back to the school...”

* * *

 

“I’m telling you, Yelena, the school is to the west.” Lief pointed, agitation clear in his tone. The two were standing at the temple still, black knight artifact still in Yelena’s hand as they argued.

“And I’m telling you, it’s to the east!” She protested.

“Well, why don’t we just retrace our steps?” He groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration.

“In a forest? You’ve lost your marbles. We’ll get lost. Besides, we were dropped into the forest. All we’ll find is our landing spots. Even if we did have luck enough to find our way to where we were launched all we’ll find is a cliff.”

“What do you suggest then?”

“I already told you, we head east. We’ll eventually find the school.”

“It’s not the th-”

“Are you two done?” The new voice caught both of them off guard, causing them to jump slightly as they startled, Yelena quickly stashing the chess piece. They turned to find a pair of faunus boys, both with black hair though one wore his slicked back and the other let it fall to his shoulders naturally.

“You’re not here to steal our relic are you? Paws off we were here first!” Lied growled at them.

“Look around, Senseless.” The boy with the black cat tail rolled his eyes as he and his partner moved past the two of them. “There are plenty of these chess pieces around here. Also, I’m not sure if I should be more offended that you thought we would steal or that you said paws off.” He chuckled to himself, grabbing the second black knight piece. “This one alright Ambrose?”

“I’m not sure if this is another part of our test.” The second boy, the one with the slicked back hair, muttered, looking at the pieces with particular interest, his white cat ears twitching slightly. “I suppose out of the pieces available the black knight works. Though the symbolism is rather-”

“Grimm.” Yelena cut in.

“Exactly.”

“No. Grimm!” She pointed frantically. They all pulled their weapons quickly as they turned to see the glowing red orbs in the shadows of the forest. And then Lief relaxed, like there wasn’t a real threat.

“Oh calm down, it’s just some LED lights.” He said, putting his machete back on his belt.

“What?” Ambrose frowned. “How can you tell?”

“It doesn’t smell like Grimm. It smells…” He paused for a moment, inhaling through his nose. “Like mischief. Alright, come out whoever you are!” He called out.

“Aw. You guys are no fun.” A boy walked out, most of his face obscured by a yellow hood though tufts of rusty blond hair poked out from under it.

“I told you not to do that!” A girl with a platinum blond bun stumbled out of the brush after him. “It was childish!”

“Oh lay off.” The boy groaned. “I got us to the temple didn’t I?”

“By luck alone.” She scoffed.

“Yeah, he’d know something about that.” Yelena smiled. “Hey, Jin.” She waved to the boy.

“Yelena!” He lunged over, wrapping her into a koala like hug. “I was sure the Grimm would have eaten you by now!”

“Oh, please, you know I’m way better than that.” She hugged him.

Ambrose stood aside, unimpressed by the exchange. “Time to go, Rez. Before even more people start showing up.” He began walking and the boy with the tail followed after him while stowing the black knight in his satchel.

* * *

 

“That was my first meeting with Rez. After we finally made it back to the school we were assigned as Team ARYL, with Ambrose as the leader. We were then assigned our dorm room and started our first semester at Beacon like nothing was wrong. Because nothing was wrong.” Yelena finished her story and watched as the man in front of her continued to jot things down.

“And how did Rez react to Ambrose being made leader?”

“I don’t think he cared. Rez was never the leader sort. He prefered working in the shadows. Ambrose was different. He always took charge of situations, always knew what needed to be done and was never hesitant about doing it himself if he needed to.”

“Can you list for me your teams’ weapons?”

“Why?” She narrowed her eyes.

“I want to be sure they’re all accounted for.”

“Ambrose had rifle saber named Ledi. Rez had two twin daggers that folded into pistols, they were named Krov and Korolya. My own weapon is a bo staff, named Luz Selva, it can turn into a sniper rifle. And my brother has a machete with a pistol in the hilt, named Protetor.”

The man checked off his list as she talked. “All except for Krov and Korolya are accounted for.”

“Rez isn’t accounted for either.” She sneered. “It’s reasonable to believe his weapons are with him.”

“It’s also reasonable to believe that he’s running from something. Isn’t it?”

“I don’t care what you say. I refuse to believe that he did this.”

“The innocent never run, Yelena. You’ll do well to remember that.”

* * *

 

They let Yelena go before midnight, assigning two Atlas soldiers to walk her to where they she and her brother were sleeping, now that their dorm was unavailable. For her protection, they said. Yelena doubted that any of this was done with her well being in mind. The second the door closed behind her her brother jumped her with questions.

“Well? What happened?” He was obviously shaken from the night’s events but was putting on a brave face for his sister’s sake.

“Nothing. They just asked me a bunch of questions. But, I think they think Rez is responsible.” She sighed, sitting on one of the beds in the borrowed dorm room.

“They’re not the only ones. New got around campus pretty quickly. You can thank Jin for that.”

“Jin isn’t type to spread rumors.”

“Not to a whole school, but to his friends, he’s a fucking gossip. And then his friends tell their friends and-”

“Then it’s around the entire school.” Great. This was turning into a fucking mess. Turning into? Who was she kidding? It had been a total mess since she came home from the faire grounds that afternoon. “That’s it. I’m going after him.” She stood up, walking across the room to grab her bag.

“What? Are you crazy?” Lief protested. “There are soldiers out looking for him right now. If you’re found with him they’ll think you’re an accomplice. Not to mention the soldiers stationed right outside our door. Face it, until Professor Ozpin says so, we’re in custody of the Atlas military. You’ve seen their airships! They aren’t people you want to cross!”

“Lief! Rez is out there somewhere! He ran for a reason, and I don’t believe it’s because he was guilty!” Yelena snapped, nearly slamming her bo staff into its holder on her back.

“Why else would he run?”

“Maybe he’s scared. Or angry? Or something. I just know he’s not guilty.”

Lief groaned in frustration, stomping over to his own bag to grab his machete. “You’re going to get us killed!”

“Us? I didn’t say you had to come with me.” Yelena frowned.

“You honestly think I’m letting my baby sister run off on her own? Mom and Dad would kill me.” He shook his head. “Nu-uh. I’m going with you. We’ll bring him back together.”

That almost got a smile out of his sister, a soft and almost sad smile." Together then."


	2. Chapter 2

A young man, a faunus with a black panther tail, stood outside of the seedy club on the wrong side of town, black leather hood over his hair and face. It was raining, which oddly appropriate given his mood. He pushed the doors open and stepped into the strobing colorful lights of the club, music flowing around him. He ignored the tables of patrons, the dance floor, even all the suspicious looks he got from the numerous men dressed in black and red. He instead made a beeline for the bar, situating himself on a bar stool, next to the man who seemed to be running everything, and motioned for the bar tender.

“One cider, no ice.” He ordered. Had he been out with friends he would have ordered something more alcoholic. Tonight, however, he was all business. He couldn’t risk having his senses dulled tonight. As the bartender prepared his drink he turned to the man next to him. “Care to point me towards a man they call Junior?”

“Who’s asking?” The man asks.

“I am.” He said bluntly.

“And who are you?”

“A Huntsman.”

“A little young to be a Hunstman, aren’t you?”

“A little old to have a name like _Junior_ , aren’t you?”

“So I’ve heard.” He sighed, turning away from the kid for a second, eyes turning to the bar’s tv as the kid’s face popped up on a news report of a murder. “A Hunstman you say?”

The kid frowned, wondering for a moment if he needed to reach for his weapons.

“Don’t worry, if I turned in every fugitive who walked through my doors I’d go out of business.” He put his drink down, now turning his full attention to the kid. “Why’d you come looking for me?”

“Isn’t it, obvious?” He motioned to the new report. “I’m looking for the man who really murdered my partner. Most likely the White Fang.”

“I haven’t heard anything about someone wanting to kill any Beacon students; and I don’t deal in the White Fang. Try somewhere else, Kid.” He shook his head, picking his drink back up.

“And here I thought you know everything. If it’s a problem of money I can give you everything I have.”

“You’re a kid on the run for murder. All the money you have can barely pay for that drink you ordered. And I don’t deal with the White Fang.” He reiterated, sternly.

The boy groaned in frustration, throwing down the cash needed for the drink before downing it in one gulp and storming out of the club. This was a waste of time. Surely there was somewhere else to go for information if this man wasn’t going to help him. He slipped into a side street and quickened his pace as the sound of sirens muffled its way through the heavy rain. He didn’t know if they were looking for him or not but he needed to find a place to hide either way. It was only a matter of time before the officials caught his trail. He needed to duck his head somewhere for the night. Right as he was about to round the corner he heard a gunshot and dodged behind a dumpster. His semblance started to work, causing him to blend in with the metal behind him.

“Here, kitty kitty.” A woman’s voice called out as he crept his way out from behind the dumpster but stayed crouched against the wall; with how dark it was and with his semblance she shouldn’t be able to see him. “I know you’re here!” The dumpster was thrown away from the wall, garbage flinging away from it. “You can’t hide from me forever.” She growled when she failed to find him there., pulling the gun off of her back and looking through the scope on it. She moved it side to side, searching for him; and then to his surprise she stopped with the barrel pointing right to his chest. "Gotcha, kitty cat." She gave a wicked grin before pulling the trigger. He barely had enough time to dodge, the bullet grazing his bicep as he rolled out of the way and deactivated his semblance. He didn't know how she spotted him but either way his semblance was no good to him now. His daggers were in his hands seconds before he rushed forward, sliding in between her legs and slicing through her jeans and drawing enough blood to cause her to double over and drop her weapon. He placed a booted foot in between her shoulder blades and pushed down, yanking her arm behind her as he did until she grunted in pain.

“I’m assuming you’re a bounty hunter.” He said cooly.

“Not professionally.” She said through gritted teeth.

“You’re a very bad one.” He glowered. “You know who I am?”

“Only what the news says.”

“Then why the hell would you come after me? I’m a suspect of murder, and the victim was someone I liked. If I could do that to them, just think what I can do to scum like you.” He pulled on her arm more to reinforce his anger but ultimately let go of her and stepped back. She attempted to get up but began to stumble. “What’s wrong? A bit dizzy? Tunnel vision? Can you hear your heart beating in your ears?” He asked casually. “Just lay down, the poison from my blade will wear off in a few hours, and I will be long gone by then.” He turned and started walking away, pressing a hand over his bleeding arm. Luckily the rain would wash away any blood that dripped off of him. He shouldn’t leave a trail that anyone could follow.


	3. Chapter 3

Jin sighed heavily. As much as he loved the idea of being given a better chance in the tournament but not at the cost of his friends. Sure, he wasn’t very close to Ambrose, but Yelena and Lief were his best friends. Well, other than Aubrey, that is, who was closer to being his brother than he was to being his friend. Still, if he was being practical, which was not his strong suit, his team stood a much better chance now that ARYL was scattered.

“I know that look.” Aubrey said in a quiet voice so the Maia and Aunora wouldn’t hear. “You’re worrying about something.”

Jin looked up at his best friend, which he always had to do since the blond bastard was a good half foot taller than him. “Me? Worry? Never. I’m just going over strategy for the match today.”

“You? Think of strategy? Never.” Maia sneered from across the locker room as she threaded her bo staff, Resiliens, into it’s holder on her back. Despite Aubrey being his best friend, Maia was his partner. Kinda fucked up since the pale eyed girl was always trying to undermine him as leader.

Aubrey’s own partner, Aunora, was the quiet one of the group. Never talked more than

she had to and seemed to prefer working alone than on a team. Really it seemed the only two who knew what teamwork meant was Jin and Aubrey who had earned the nickname “Power Twins” despite looking nothing alike.

Jin sheathed his twin daggers, Hasen and Pfote, at his belt and turned to the rest of his team. “Alright, now I know we’re not the best team at Beacon-”

“We’re not even in the top twenty.” Maia pointed out.

“But! We have something the other teams don’t.”

“Bad luck?”

“No.” Jin shot her a glare before returning his cocky smirk. “We have me…And Aubrey.” He added after a moment, pretending as though he was second thought.

Maia opened her mouth for another snide remark but was cut short as the loud speakers came on. “Team JAAM report to the arena, please.”

“Well come on then.” Jin rubbed his hands together. “Off to victory!”

* * *

The four of the dragged themselves back to their dorm room, dark purple bruises speckling their skin as they tried to make it to their beds before they collapsed from exhaustion. The fake optimism Jin had shown in the locker room was depleted after having their asses handed to them so soundly that he wasn’t even sure he was completely conscious for the end of the fight. They managed to make it as far as their beds, weapons clattering to the floor as the flopped on top of the covers.

“I think I have eternal bleeding.” Jin moaned.

“That’s internal bleeding, idiot.” Maia mumbled into her pillow.

It wasn’t long before they were dozing off, not even bothering to change out of their dirty and, in Maia’s case, bloodied clothes. The only one that remained awake, despite her exhaustion, was Aunora; who waited until Jin started to snore before sitting back up and pulling out her scroll. Paging through her contacts she got to one labeled “Hedda” and opened a new message.

_ Tournament match successfully thrown. Yelena and Lief have left to find Rez. Authorities still think he was the one who attacked Ambrose. Continuing to fly under the radar until further notice. _

With that sent she closed her scroll and tucked it safely under her pillow so the incoming vibration from the returning message would be muffled. She hadn’t liked throwing the match, and she wasn’t so certain that Aubrey didn’t notice. Still, an order from Hedda is an order she would follow to the T, despite not knowing fully who or even what Hedda was. She got the feeling that she was old, older than she looked or let on. For one thing, her name was different. After the war everyone named their children after colors, though some stretched that trend with names like  _ Aunora _ , or  _ Aubrey _ . There was no colors association with the name  _ Hedda _ . Not that it truly mattered to Aunora what or who she was. As far as she was concerned she was the reason Aunora was here, the reason she could fight, the reason she could stop being afraid. Because of that Aunora would do as she asked, without question.

It didn’t take long for Hedda’s return message, praising her for a job well done and telling her the next step. Aunora’s heart lurched as she read the message. She was to leave? Hedda had caught wind of what the White Fang was planning and wanted her prodigy out of the city by the end of the night.

She glanced at her teammates, sleeping soundly in their beds. She had been sent to infiltrate Beacon for Hedda and never expected to get attached to her team. She almost didn’t want to leave them. Still, an order from Heddas is an order she would follow...to the T.

She slid from her bed, the soles of her boots making barely a noise on the carpet as she stood and grabbed her weapon, Misneach, returning it to it’s holster. She didn’t own much in the dorm room; her scroll, the clothes on her back, and her weapon. Everything else of hers was where it belonged, with Hedda.

She hesitated at the doorway, hand hovering over the door knob before she finally steeled herself and quietly slipped from the room.

Jin cracked an eyelid as the door closed, his fake snore disappearing almost immediately as he sat up, grabbing Hasen and Pfote and securing them at his waist. Careful not to wake the others he followed Aunora into the hallway, keeping in the shadows as she made her way off campus.

* * *

“Do you even have any idea where to start?” Lief asked his sister as they walked down the rainy streets of Vale.

Yelena cringed at the question. It had been an hour since they managed to escape custody and all they managed to do was get drenched by rain and completely lost in downtown Vale. Yelena groaned. They were running into dead end after dead end. It had seemed like a good idea when they left but now she wasn’t so sure. They eventually came to a diner and Lief’s growling stomach forced them to take temporary shelter inside so they could have dinner and warm up.

“This is hopeless. We should just go back to the school.” Lief whined through a half stuffed mouth.

“He has to still be in the city.” Yelena sighed into her mug of coffee.

“He doesn’t have to be anything. And even if he was still in the city, the city is huge!”

“Well can’t you just use your semblance to track him?”

“It’s raining, numbnuts. Any scent Rez would have left behind is all washed away.”

Another dead end. At this rate they’d never find their teammate. Yelena let her mind take a break for a moment, eyes drifting to the tv screen across the room. It was recapping today’s tournament battles; the battles they were supposed to be a part of had things not gone horribly wrong. She was still watching the program when the waitress came over and set a piece of pie down in front of her brother.

“On the house, cutie.” She winked at Lief before walking away.

“Yelena, I think I’m in love.” He said in a dreamy voice.

“With the girl or with the pie?”

“Why not both?”

She groaned and rolled her eyes. Her brother had to be the only person on Remnant who always thought with his stomach, even while breaking as many rules as they were at the moment. “Alright, we need to regroup. Where would Rez go if he wanted to clear his name?”

“I’ll tell you where I’d go.”  A squeaky voice came from beside them, bringing their attention to the young girl who was trying to sneak a bite of Lief’s pie.

“Hey! Hands off!” He snatched the plate away.

“I’d be nice to me. I’m the waitress’s sister and if you’re not nice she’ll never go on a date with you!”

“You said you were gonna tell us where you’d go.” Yelena ignored the girl’s antics and pushed for an answer.

“There’s a club a few blocks away from here. I heard Daddy tell his friend that he knows  _ everything _ ! If your friend is in trouble he’s probably there.” She explained. “Can I have your pie now?” She turned back to Lief who looked like he was about to tell the kid where she could shove the pie before Yelena gave him a nasty look.

“Alright, alright, fine. We can split it.” He put the plate down just in time for the girl to snatch it and rush away. “Hey!”

“Let it go, Lief. She at least gave us where to head next.”

“You’re taking advice from a pie stealing thief?”

“Do you have any better ideas?” She snapped. “We’re basically lost in the middle of downtown Vale, with no leader, and no idea where the rest of our team is. And we both know I’m too stubborn to go back to Beacon and admit defeat.”

“Fair enough.” He sighed, fishing out his wallet so he could pay for their meal. “Let’s hurry this up, the sooner we clear Rez’s name the sooner we can go home.”


	4. Chapter 4

“At least the rain has stopped.” Lief noted as they exited the club, their last lead being a bust.

“Stopped enough for you to track Rez?” Yelena asked hopefully.

“Not unless we happen to stumble upon where he’s been since it stopped raining.”

Yelena gave a heavy and disappointed sigh. It was late, way late. The first hints of sunlight peeking over the horizon. “Best to find somewhere to sleep. We’re no good to Rez if we can’t even keep our eyes open.”

“That’s the best plan I’ve heard all day.” Lief admitted as the two started heading back down the street.

As they passed an alleyway Lief froze, hand flying to cover his nose as he wretched. Yelena was quick to his side.

“Lief? What’s wrong?”

He weakly pointed down the alleyway before grumbling. “Reeks of blood.”

Yelena peered over his shoulder, into the alleyway and squinted as she tried to see what was lurking in the shadows. Her eyes were quick to adjust to the dark and she spotted the unconscious woman bleeding out of her leg. “Oh my vines!” She left her brother to investigate, rolling the woman onto her back and checking for a pulse. “Well, she’s alive, and the cut isn’t that deep.” She murmured to herself as Lief dared to inch closer, holding his nose. “No sign of head trauma, I wonder what caused her to go unconscious.” She frowned. “Did you bring bandages in your pack?”

Lief gave her “do you really need to ask” look before sliding his bag off and managed to pull the bandages out with just one hand.

“Thanks. The least we can do is bandage her up and get her out of the streets before something worse happens.” She was just about to do so, unrolling a good length of bandage, when the woman started to mumble and slowly wake up.

“Morning, sunshine.” Leif leaned over her. “How ya feeling?”

“Like a furry faunus brat poisoned me.” She grumbled, trying to sit up. She spotted the bandage roll still in Yelena’s hand and immediately snatched it from her, bandaging her wound herself. “Now, who the fuck are you brats?”

“You mentioned a faunus? And poison? Do you know his name?” Yelena asked hopefully. Poison was Rez’s trademark.

“You didn’t answer my question, kiddies.” She finished bandaging herself, hands still shaking as an after effect of the poison. “Ugh my head is splitting.”

Leif was quick to dig into his bag, pulling out over the counter pain pills. The woman grabbed for them but he held them from her reach. “You’ll get these once you tell us who it was that attacked you.”

“Ugh, fine, don’t see what’s it to you. It was that kid that’s been on the news lately. Raz? Rats??

“Rez?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Now can I please have those pills?”

Leif tossed them to her. “Fine, but only because you gave us our first lead of the night.”

“You kids are a little young to be bounty hunters.”

“We’re not. We’re his friends.” Yelena corrected her.

“That asshole has friends? Whatever, I’m out. I don’t feel like getting poisoned again.” She shook her head, standing up. “Have fun with this one.” She stumbled off and neither of the siblings bothered to chase after her. If Rez had drugged her she wouldn’t actually know anything about where he went. But that meant Rez had been here and rain couldn’t wash away everything, especially if the two of them had been in a fight.

Leif seemed to be thinking exactly the same thing as he sat down, closing his eyes and covering his ears, and breathed in deeply through his nose. Yelena didn’t bother asking what he was doing, she had seen this trick before. If he was able to close out his other senses his enhanced sense of smell would be able to pick up on things he normally wouldn’t be able to. Such as-

“Blood. Determination. Anger.” He listed off. “The rain has washed some of the smell away but I think he went off that way.” He pointed. “Maybe an hour or two ago.”

“Can you follow the trail?” She asked hopefully.

“If you can lead me while I keep my eyes closed then yes.”

Yelena suppressed the urge to do an excited happy dance as she stood and helped her brother up. “Then away we go,  _ Mano _ .”

“Just make sure not to walk me into a pole,  _ Irmã _ .” He let out a nervous chuckle. It had been a while since they had played this game.


	5. Chapter 5

Rez had found the perfect hiding place in an old run down and abandoned shop, nestled in between the dusty shelves and the water damaged walls he had the perfect view of the front windows and door while remaining hidden to any curious passerby. It was as good of place as any to rest for the night and to stanch the bleeding from his arm. It was still raining by the time he finished wrapping the wound in cloth torn from his coat, having nothing to treat it with he decided to sleep off the pain. After all, it was nearly dawn and he couldn’t risk being seen out and about with the daytime crowds. Hiding was the best thing for him at the moment.

He had just begun to doze off when the door to the shop was pried open.  Resisting the urge to jump he activated his semblance, melting into the ruined wallpaper behind him as he waited to see the intruders face.

“Are you sure he’s in here, Lief?” A familiar voice asked. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been in this place in months.” Rez could barely make her out in the darkness, but he didn’t really need to. He could see her raised eyebrow and judgemental stare just from the sound of her voice. He wanted nothing more than to jump out from his hiding place and reveal himself to her but he knew what would happen if he did. She’d want him to turn himself in, try to work with the system to clear his name. She wasn’t a faunus, she didn’t understand that the system never worked with people like him. Only against.

“Oh he’s definitely in here. His scent is too strong to ignore.” 

Oh right. He forgot about the brother. His nose was never wrong. How annoying. Slowly, as to not startle his friends, he stepped out from his hiding spot, his camouflage melting away as he quietly moved behind them and waited. It didn’t take long for Yelena to get frustrated and turn to leave. She jumped when she spotted Rez but quickly recovered from her surprise, a smile spreading across her face. She dashed to wrap him in a hug, one that, for just a moment, he was happy to return. For just a moment the warmth of her touch made him forget the last few days. He wanted nothing more than to return to Beacon in that moment. And then reality came rushing back. “You shouldn’t be here.” He pulled away.

“Neither should you.” She frowned at him. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re innocent.”

“Do you actually need to ask.” He sighed but her expression told her everything he needed to know. He couldn’t believe she, of all people, was doubting him. “I did not kill Ambrose. I would not and could not hurt him.”

“Good enough for me.”

“Good enough?” Lief balked. “He’s a suspect for murder!”

“He’s our teammate. If we can’t trust him, who can we trust?”

“The police, maybe?” He protested loudly.

“Why are you even here, Senseless?” Rez narrowed his eyes at him while Yelena made a point to step between them.

“To make sure my sister doesn’t get herself killed. You are, after all, the prime suspect in a  _ murder _ investigation.”

“I didn’t kill him.” He reiterated sternly.

“He was stabbed in the back by someone who had a key to our dorm.”

“Do you know how many people at Beacon can pick a lock? Narrow it down to the ones that can pick a lock well enough to not show any evidence, and the ones who use bladed weapons. Not to mention the fact that with as many people who have been coming and going from Beacon in the recent weeks due to the tournament means that it could have been literally anyone.” He explained as though he were talking to a dimwitted child. “I’m telling you the truth. It was not me. But,” He paused, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a white mask. “I have a lead as to where to find them.”

“The White Fang?” Yelena frowned. “But Ambrose was a faunus. Why would the White Fang want him dead?”

“Ambrose has always been outspoken against the way the White Fang and their tactics, but nothing more than most sensible faunus.” Rez said, handing the mask to Lief who reached for it. “Can your nose tell us anything?”

Lief sniffed it for a moment and looked confused. “It’s unworn. Smells of plastic, but no person smells. There’s not even sweat on it.”

“That tells us nothing.” Yelena groaned.

“No.” Rez shook his head. “That tells us a lot. For one thing, it wasn’t the White Fang. If it was a White Fang member the mask would have been worn. Someone is going through a lot of effort to make it look like the White Fang did this. But why?”

The trio was silent for a long moment as the sounds of morning started reaching their ears. It was then they realized just how tired they were. They hadn’t slept in over a day, they were running out of energy very quickly.

“We should sleep.” Rez told them. “In shifts so we can keep watch. We’ll pick the mystery up tomorrow.”


End file.
